In vehicles with enhanced starter motor technology, for example, micro hybrid vehicles, the engine is automatically stopped and restarted by a control system under certain conditions—e.g., when the vehicle is stopped. One type of start-stop system for a vehicle with an automatic transmission is a “Stop-in-Drive” system (SID). In such a system, the engine will only be autostopped when the transmission gear lever is in the “DRIVE” position. The engine is restarted when the gear lever is moved out of DRIVE.
In a SID system there are situations where the driver arrives at the end of their journey, brings the vehicle to a stop, and assuming all other autostop criteria are met, the engine autostops while still in DRIVE. If the driver moves the gear lever out of DRIVE, the engine automatically restarts. This may not be desirable, however, as the driver's intention may be to move the gear lever to “PARK” and “key-off” the vehicle. Although it may be desirable to maintain an autostopped condition when the gear lever is moved from DRIVE to PARK, it may not be when the gear lever is moved out of DRIVE to “REVERSE”.
Therefore, a need exists for a system and method to control an engine in a vehicle such that after being autostopped while the vehicle is in DRIVE, and the transmission gear lever is shifted out of DRIVE, the vehicle engine will be automatically restarted under certain conditions, but not others.